


Walking the King's Roads

by Chocolatepot



Category: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV)
Genre: Gen, The King's Roads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 10:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8886865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocolatepot/pseuds/Chocolatepot
Summary: John Childermass had never had much use for bloody magicians - but perhaps he could find some.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thaumatomane (choosedailymail)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/choosedailymail/gifts).



> I was really struck with your prompts re: Childermass and Jonathan Strange, because I too have wanted to see them spend time together and for Childermass's magic to be more recognized!

John Childermass had never had much use for bloody magicians. Norrell he had a measure of respect for, because his employer - despite his delicate habits - followed through on his studies and engaged in practical magic; for the others, he felt nothing but contempt. It would be bad enough to have as large a library as the one at Hurtfew and to squander it on theoretical magic, but to have read only a few books and still play at being a learned magician was laughable. Or it would have been, if Childermass were given much to laughing.

(It was perhaps surprising that, for all his disdain for men who toyed with the idea of magic but did not attempt it and still called themselves 'magicians', Childermass did not think of himself a magician, perhaps because magicians were gentlemen. He was a man who sensibly used his talents in order to do magic efficiently and well.)

Jonathan Strange was different, though. Unlike Norrell, he had seemed generally easy, and was comfortable even in Childermass's company. Unlike the other magicians, he performed magic. And like Childermass, he enjoyed the practice - revelled in it, lived in it. It was this that led Childermass to follow Strange into the mirrors and seek him out on the King's Roads.

He found the gentleman seated on a rock, cooking sausages over a conjured green fire in a light drizzle. When Strange lifted his eyes up to gaze at Childermass, however, the lack of surprise in them showed that he had been scrying and was well aware that he would be joined by company.

"A very good morning to you, Childermass," said Strange. "Do you bring word from my wife?"

It had not occurred to Childermass to call on her and bear a message. "No," he said, preferring not to offer an apology.

"Ah, well. Can you tell me, is she well?"

"Mrs. Strange was well, the last time I heard of her. She is still keeping company with Lady Pole, who remains deeply opposed to both you and Mr. Norrell, and indeed all magic."

"Ah well, again. I suppose it cannot be helped. Would you bring her word from me?" Childermass shrugged, without any verbal indication as to whether this meant that it would be no trouble or that he was not inclined to do so, and Strange did not press him for a proper answer. He would, of course, deliver a message or a letter if Strange were to ask him to directly, but Strange did not; instead, he changed the subject.

"And what are you doing on the King's Roads, Childermass?"

It did not occur to him that Strange might ask - he had thought it was obvious. "I have come to travel them, of course. I meant to find my … former master and offer him my services again. He is not with you anymore, though, I see." He had performed Elarius' investigo to find out which direction to walk in when he first arrived on the King's Roads, using water that he had brought with him; the spell did not seem to work with what he scooped from the rivers and ponds he discovered as he walked, so he had simply continued to travel the road.

"Yes - we came upon a fairy who possessed several magical grimoires that Norrell was mad to see, and so I resolved to continue walking alone. I have this, you see," Strange said, holding up his hand to display a ring with a blood-red stone, "which he may use to find me when he has read his fill." That that would likely take some time was a thought that neither man needed to give voice to.

At that moment, due in part to the weather and in part to Strange's inattention, the fire sparked, fizzled, and disappeared, leaving the scent of limes hanging in the air. "Damn the rain!" he exclaimed, leaping up, but before he could restore the flames, Childermass stepped forward and performed the cantrip himself.

"Now, that is something to see. You have quite the talent, don't you?" Childermass only shrugged. "Now, why is it, Childermass, that I have seen you performing magic on a few occasions, with an ease that indicates a certain amount of practice and proficiency, and yet it is a well-known fact that Gilbert Norrell and I are the only two true magicians in England?"

"It suits me," was all that Childermass would say as he crossed his arms.

"Well, that is obvious," said Strange. "But why on earth should it suit you to be ignored and dismissed as Norrell's rather impolite servant, instead of recognized as a competent magician in your own right?"

There was a long pause in which Childermass considered various answers - that he did not relish the attention of the crowds, or indeed anyone; that he could not see that being known as one of the two magicians of England had greatly improved either Strange or Norrell's lives; that magicians were either gentlemen or wild, disreputable charlatans (or, he amended, thinking of Vinculus, simply wild and disreputable men) and he was neither - but in the end, regarding Strange as likely to argue with every one of his reasons, he merely shrugged once more.

"Perhaps it is a good thing that I like to talk, if you plan to be so taciturn as we travel," Strange remarked. "Otherwise, I suppose it should be very quiet, and the King's Roads are odd enough even when traveling in ordinary company; in silent company, we would be most uncomfortable, or at least I should."

"Why do you assume that you will be traveling in my company, or I in yours?"

"Aha, I have shocked you into a longer sentence!" Strange let out a short laugh, then stood up. He wiped his right hand ineffectively on his damp trousers, shook it off, and held it out for Childermass to shake, though Childermass did not. "Well, whether or not you will meet me on equal terms, I hope you will travel with me. You are a fascinating figure, Childermass, and there is much we could teach one another, I think."

A smile did not cross Childermass's face, and he still did not take the offered hand. But he took on a speculative look and he nodded, which Strange took with as much cheer as if they had embraced.


End file.
